Protecting your computer from viruses

What is a computer virus and how do I get one?

If you depend on the information stored on your personal computer, you need to understand how computer viruses spread, and you should use anti-virus software to reduce the chance that a computer virus will infect your programs and files.

A computer virus is a program that makes copies of itself and infects files. Computer viruses can spread to other computers and files whenever infected files are exchanged. Often infected files come as email attachments, even from people you know. The email senders have no idea that they are passing on a file with a virus in it.

Some computer viruses can erase or change the information stored on your computer, other viruses may do little or no harm to your system. Writing and releasing any virus is prohibited by university policy, and anyone who does so will be held legally accountable for damages.

How do I protect my computer?

There are several things that you should do to protect your computer from virus infections:

• Use a high-quality anti-virus program, and be sure to update it regularly. Use it to scan any files, programs, software, or diskettes (even new software from a commercial company) before you use them on your computer.
• Make back-up copies of important documents or files and store them on separate diskettes. Making backups will also protect your information against accidental file deletion, diskette failure, and other damage.
• Whenever you use a computer in a campus lab, be sure to reboot or run "cleanup" before you start your session and log out when you end your session.
• Do not share commerical software with anyone. It is a violation of the author's copyright to distribute such material, and it is a way to spread viruses.
• When you get public domain (PD) software for which the author has granted permission to make copies, get it from a reliable source. (For example, and individual you do not know is not a reliable source.) Before you run PD material, use an anit-virus program to inspect for known viruses.
• Always scan your disks and files after using them on another computer.
• Always scan all files you download from the Internet.
• Always scan Word or Excel file email attachments before you read them.

Reference: http://www.washington.edu/computing/virus.html

Warning Signs of Virus Infection

Your computer starts running sluggishly.

It shuts down unexpectedly or crashes frequently.

It experiences memory problems or runs out of disc space.

Unusual files or directories appear on your system.

Strange messages appear on your screen.

Virus Prevention Guidelines

Make sure your computer runs anti-virus software. If not, buy and install it immediately.

Even if you have this software, it must be updated regularly, as new viruses appear daily. Configure the programs to automatically download updates, making it easy to stay protected. Otherwise, periodically download the updates manually.

DO NOT OPEN an e-mail attachment unless you know who sent it. Even then, it's not totally safe, as a sneaky virus that has infected a friend's computer can access the e-mail address book, send a message to everyone, and attach itself. To be completely safe, scan the attachment with your anti-virus software BEFORE you open it.

If you receive a suspicious message, delete it immediately from your Inbox. When you delete a message, however, it's still on your system. Go into the Deleted Mail folder and delete the message again to permanently remove it from your computer.

Regularly back up your files. Should your system become infected, you won't lose valuable data.

Reference: http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/37virus.htm